Telugu Pride - A jinx for Congress Party

1984 elections was a sure shot. Rajiv Gandhi was running for the Prime Minister post just after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. There was a sympathy wave across the country. Every one knew it was cake walk for young Rajiv. All the opposition was nearly nulled with the mournings and sympathies. The same was also thought of Andhra Pradesh. Before that there was not a single election lost by Congress in Andhra Pradesh. AP was a Congress strong hold and the High Command from Delhi had all the say in the politics. There were ten Chief Ministers in the 27 years of Congress rule (from 1956). All the Chief Ministers were elevated to National Politics because of their good performance (in the eyes of High Command) and this left the state with utter confusion. But still Telugu people took this as a positive movement and voted for Congress again and again. So even that year, with the added advantage of Sympathy wave, Congress was bound to have a clean sweep in AP.
Telugu Desam was established on 29th March 1982. In record nine months of campaigning it came to power at stated level. It did not stop there. In 1984 Lok Sabha elections it made a clean sweep of 30 seats out 42. The Congress could not find enough voters in its own bastion. The sympathy wave which created history in Indian Politics did not touch its own bastion. To make the wound sour, as the opposition party, Telugu Desam was seeing eye to eye Rajiv Gandhi. In that election when even Janata Dal could not make a mark, Rajiv Gandhi would have not expected an opposition party and specially not from its own bastion: Andhra Pradesh.
Then what went wrong?

In 1982, T Anjaiah was the chief minister but the people were unhappy because they felt the government was being run from Delhi. The state had seen three chief ministers in five years. The final straw came when Rajiv Gandhi, then a Congress general secretary, publicly rebuked Anjaiah at Hyderabad's Begumpet airport. There was an outcry and NTR decided that the telugu people had enough. He decided to contest the assembly election in January 1983 and started the party. The slogan was 'Telugu Atmagauravam' or Telugu Self Respect. This not only swept Congress out of the elections in subsequent two years but also made Telugu Desam the opposition party at the center.

Fast forward by 18 years. Y.S.Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, contested the elections on the same line: "Telugu Atma Gouravamaa Delhi Pogaraa" (Telugu's Self Respect, or Delhi's Arrogance). There was an attempt to sideline him after his father's accidental death. His father, his grand father were staunch supporters of Congress and have served at different levels in it for decades. So it was natural for Jagan to support and gain importance in the party. But the high command did not want to give that importance, for the fear of hijacking the Congress party. His father has already ruled the state for five years and garnered at unprecedented support and admiration. He became popular for his developmental work in the five years of stable rule. Prior and post him, the chief minister post was a musical chair played by the high command by changing them every two years. So another term by Jagan would have made him stronger than the Congress party in the state. Or atleast thats what the high command thought of and banished him from the party. 

This is a grave mistake, at least as it seems at this instant. Congress contender did not even gain the least mandate needed for getting the deposit back. This should be a fore runner for some prompt work to repair the damage done to the Telugu Pride.